Pitching has long been the calling card for No. 1 Archbishop Spalding baseball.
While it wasn’t in typical form Tuesday at Loyola Blakefield, the Cavaliers proved resourceful in finding other ways to close out a thrilling 12-10 win over the Dons in Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference play.
The two-time defending league champions recorded 11 hits, drew nine walks, got hit by three pitches and stole five bases to generate 12 runs. Drew Emrich hit a grand slam in a seven-run fourth inning for the Cavaliers, then hit a sacrifice fly in the seventh to produce the winning run.
Reliever Brayden Robinson pitched four innings to get the win, striking out two in a scoreless seventh.
It was the second win for Spalding (6-2, 2-0) over Loyola (3-4, 3-2) in as many days.
After giving up a game-tying, two-run home run to Loyola’s Jake Hauk in the bottom of the sixth inning, Robinson showed poise in the seventh after the Cavaliers scored twice in the top of the frame to get the lead back.
He struck out Cole Hanson and Vance Tyree to open the inning and, after an infield error, closed out the win on a groundout by Ryan Clary.
In a game mostly belonging to the hitters, Robinson had the final say.
“We’re just a competitive team and showed we can battle back,” he said. “On the mound, I struggled a bit for a couple innings, but really dialed in for the seventh inning. After the [Hauk] home run, a lot of pitchers may have gotten down on themselves, but I went back in the dugout and told myself I was going to [get it done in the seventh].”
The Cavaliers effectively manufactured two runs in the top of the seventh with Brennan Inscoe beating out a sacrifice bunt attempt to load the based before Emrich got a fly ball deep enough in center to make it 9-8.
Patience at the plate proved beneficial for the Cavaliers’ first baseman.
“On my grand slam, I was sitting on a curveball and also on my sacrifice fly. When I first hit [the grand slam], I thought it was just a pop up, but it kept on going. It was a great game for us to win,” Emrich said.
A wild pitch gave the Cavaliers an insurance run before Robinson’s work on the mound closed out the win.
After opening the teams’ three-game set with a 9-4 home win Monday, the Cavaliers started fast with three first-inning runs off starter Tanner Robertson with Inscoe providing an RBI double before scoring.
But the Dons weren’t fazed.
Hauk started his big offensive day with a two-run double in a three-run first to tie the score and the home team added four more runs in the second. Derek Seiss hit a two-out, two-run double off Cavaliers starter Nate Wines to put Loyola up 7-3.
In the seven-run fourth inning, the Cavaliers grinded out at-bats against relievers Michael Delgaudio and Brad Seiss and also got two big hits. They drew four walks and drove in a run on a hit-by-pitch before Emrich delivered a long fly to left field that carried over the fence for a grand slam and an 8-7 lead. Chase Taylor, who opened the inning with a walk and scored, added a two-run double on his second plate appearance of the inning to make it 10-8.
After the Dons committed five errors in Monday’s loss, it was a lack of control on the mound that did them in Tuesday. Despite the loss, coach Mike Kelly liked what he saw from his bats.
“We just put too many guys on base and when you do that, you’re going to get in trouble. But the way we swung the bats is going to help us win a lot of games, so that was pretty impressive,” he said. “Their guys are really accomplished pitchers and for us to go out and do that today was hopefully a wake-up call for us to show what we can do.”
The teams are set to return to Spalding on Thursday to complete the week’s three-game set with game time to be determined.
Spalding — 300 700 2 — 12 11 2
Loyola — 340 102 0 — 10 10 0
WP: Robinson LP: D. Seiss
2B: S — Inscoe, Taylor, Martin; L — Hauk, B. Seis, D. Seiss. HR: S — Emrich; L — Clary, Hauk
